Beer 130 - Ridgeway Bad Elf

The second beer of the four pack brewed and bottled by Ridgeway Brewing in Oxfordshire, UK and bought to the US by Shelton Brothers in Belchertown, MA.  I bought the four pack at Spec's Liquor downtown and drunk this one at home while enhancing a deGiorno pizza with extra mushrooms, fresh spinach and cheese for dinner with Patricia.

The cute notes on the label read "Tis a heavy hand what adds the hops to this festive golden ale. Truth be told, there's near to three pounds of fresh hops goes in every barrel of this treasured brew.  And it's conditioned ready for winter supping from your best flagon."

The web site - http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/ - describes the beer "A little malt, a little hops, and lots of holiday trouble-making; this Elf is so bad, it’s way good.
Olde England meets the New World in this strong, warming golden ale. A generous amount of famous English malt is masterfully balanced with an astounding 45 ounces of fresh hops – including English Cascade – per barrel. Bad Elf is brewed by Peter Scholey, master brewer for the late and much-lamented Brakspear Brewery of Henley-on-Thames, England. Peter has bought up the entire crop from the single row of Cascades grown in the U.K.
ELF WARNING: Consumption of too much Winter's Ale may be bad for your elf and may impair your ability to drive a sleigh or operate toy-making machinery."

The hype is a little overdone, but, even so, the beer is quite good.  A pleasant golden color with a small head that quickly dissipates.  The taste is a little bland, but the beer is easy to drink and pleasant enough to wash down the multi-flavored pizza.

Beer 129 - Ridgeway Brewing Reindeer's Revolt

The first of four Christmas Ales bought in a special four pack put together and marketed in the US by Shelton Brothers from (the appropriately named) Belchertown, MA and bought from Specs Liquor in Houston.

http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/

The beers are produced in the UK by Ridgeway Brewing, a small craft brewery near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.  I drank this first beer from the pack on a cold and wet fall Sunday afternoon, while watching the peniltimate NASCAR race from Phoenix on TV. The notes on the bottle made me smile: "Overheard at the bar.  'Bartender, if anyone calls, I'm not here, right? Every year, its the same nightmare, hauling that over-sized red-suited endomorph all over kingdom come, up to my shivering haunches in snow and muck! You call him a saint? Slave driver more like.  Going down in history is all well and good, but what about the here and now?  My therapist says I have to start doing things for me for a change.  It's about time I had a merry Christmas myself, don't you think?"

The web site says "A golden-amber, hop-accented, English "winter warmer" brewed without spices. It's lighter on the palate than the other Ridgeway holiday beers.  If you're looking for something to drink to escape the drudgery of the holiday season, this would be the beer for you. Perfect for, say, relaxing on the beach with a coconut in one hoof, and a beer in the other."

:-D
This was indeed a nice beer that was pleasant to drink, nicely flavored but with no sharp edges to the taste.  Light brown color in the glass with a head that dissipated quickly.  Light body and pleasant aftertaste, a nice beer to drink in the afternoon or as an aperitif before dinner, as it will not fill you up and ruin your appetite.